Tuesday, December 13, 2011

US special forces massing on Syrian border

The internet has been awash today with reports that there is unusual American military activity in Jordan, along the border with Syria.

If those reports are true, that puts American forces less than a hundred miles away from Damascus, or about a two hour drive in an armored troop carrier. Are the reports true? Maybe. What is a reliable source?

Everybody who follows our mid-east adventures knows that there is no such thing. The Washington Post is not a reliable source. Not the NYT either. Up until the Libya adventure lots of people thought Al Jazeera might be a credible source, but no more. So we are left to evaluating what is most plausible among various scenarios.

Came across an interesting essay in the course of my daily reading, by an American with deep experience on the diplomatic side. I think it was either in Haaretz or on the Counterpunch website. Read them both. Even if you don't find what you're looking for you'll be more knowledgeable for having made the effort. Made a compelling argument about why war with Iran might be a go even though the top guys in both the Israeli and American military think it would be an unmitigated disaster.

Boots on the ground in Syria would certainly be an escalation of our war on Iran.

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